fell to 30 percent due to government attention and company
actions (Deloitte Global Security Survey, 2005). Forty-three
percent of these intrusions go unreported because private
companies fear undermining the confidence of their cus-
tomers and shareholders (Computer Crime and Security
Survey, 2005). (Table 6.1).
There can be considerable variation in the types and dol-
lar costs of computer crime from year to year. In 2003, for
example, theft of proprietary information was the top hacker
target, which accounted for losses of over $70 million (Com-
puter Crime and Security Survey, 2003).Hate Crime
Ahate crimeis a criminal act committed by an offender moti-
vated by bias against race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orienta-
tion, or disability status. Anyone can commit a hate crime,
but perpetrators usually belong to dominant groups (white,
Christian, straight) and victims to disenfranchised groups
(black, Jewish, Muslim, or gay). The FBI records over 7,000
hate crimes per year, but because state and local law enforcement agencies differ in
their reporting procedures, and some do not report at all, this number is no doubt
extremely low. Bias based on race seems to be the largest motivating factor in hate
crimes (51 percent of cases), followed by religion (18 percent), sexual orientation (16.5
percent), ethnicity (14 percent), and disability (less than 1 percent).
Legislators approve of hate crime legislation sometimes and disapprove at other
times. In 2001, 43 states increased their penalties for hate crimes. However, in October
2004, leadership in House of Representatives stripped language that would have
expanded current federal hate crime protection from a defense bill, the Local Law
Enforcement Enhancement Act, after it was approved in Congress.
Advocates of these laws argue that hate crimes affect not only the individual but
the entire community, so they should be punished more harshly than ordinary crime.
The lynchings in the American South were used not only to victimize an individual
but to terrorize the entire Black population, and contemporary antigay hate crimes
are not meant to express hatred of a single gay person but to demonstrate to all gay
people that they are unwelcome and unsafe in the community.
But opponents of these laws argue that they punish attitudes, not actions. Why
does the motivation of a crime matter? If I am planning to commit a robbery, I may
select a gay man, believing the stereotype that he is fragile and weak and therefore
unlikely to resist. My prejudice didn’t motivate the crime, merely my choice of an
appropriate victim.Crime in the United States
In 2005, the violent crime rate in the United States was 21 victims per 1,000
people, and the property crime rate was 154 victims per 1,000 people, according to
the Justice Department. While these statistics are considerably lower than they were
30 years ago, the United States still has higher crime rates than many other countries
in the world: It ranks third in drug offenses per capita, fifth in assaults, eighth in mur-
ders with firearms, ninth in rape, eleventh in robberies, and sixteenth in burglaries.186 CHAPTER 6DEVIANCE AND CRIMETABLE 6.1
Computer Crimes, 2005Source:CSI/FBI Computer Crime Security Survey, 2005.
INCIDENT DOLLAR COSTVirus $42,787,767
Unauthorized access $31,233,100
Theft of proprietary information $30,933,000
Denial of service $7,310,725
Insider Net abuse $6,856,450
Laptop theft $4,107,300
Financial fraud $2,565,000
Misuse of public Web application $2,227,500
System penetration $841,400
Abuse of wireless network $544,700
Sabotage $340,600
Telecom fraud $242,000
Web site defacement $115,000